Backdate CT TANF

[hua7450]

Summary

Backdates Connecticut Temporary Family Assistance (TFA) parameters, adds regional payment standards, housing subsidy provision, and 2025 payment standard updates.

Closes #7482
Closes #6639

---

Connecticut TFA Income Rules

Regulatory Authority

• Connecticut General Statutes § 17b-104(a) — Standard of Need (55% FPL)
• Connecticut General Statutes § 17b-104(c) — Payment Standard (73% of Need Standard)
• Connecticut General Statutes § 17b-104(d) — Housing Subsidy (92% of Payment Standard)
• Connecticut General Statutes § 17b-112(c) — Earned Income Deduction ($90/person)
• Connecticut General Statutes § 17b-112(d) — Child Support Pass-Through, Resource Limit, Income Eligibility, High-Earnings Reduction
• CT TANF State Plan 2024-2026 — Statewide Payment Standards
• CT TANF State Plan 2021-2023 — Regional Payment Standards (pre-2022)
• SSA POMS SI BOS00830.403 — Regional Payment Standards (Effective July 1, 2014)
• SSA POMS SI BOS00830.403 (archived 2011) — Regional Payment Standards (Effective July 1, 1995)
• DSS Program Standards Chart (eff. 01/01/2026) — 2025 Payment Standard Update

---

1. INCOME ELIGIBILITY TESTS

Resource Limit

Period	Limit
2017-10-01 to 2023-09-30	$3,000
2023-10-01 onward	$6,000

Source: CT TANF State Plan 2024-2026, Resource Limit, CGS § 17b-112(d)

Recipient Income Eligibility

Period	Limit
2018-01-01 to 2023-12-31	100% FPL
2024-01-01 onward	230% FPL

Source: CT TANF State Plan 2024-2026, Recipient Income Eligibility, CGS § 17b-112(d)

---

2. INCOME DEDUCTIONS & EXEMPTIONS

A. Child Support Deduction — CGS § 17b-112(d)

• Amount: Up to $50 deducted from gross unearned income
• Effective: 2017-10-01

B. New Applicant Earned Income Deduction — CGS § 17b-112(c)

• Amount: $90 flat deduction per person from gross earned income
• Effective: 2017-10-01

---

3. INCOME STANDARDS BY FAMILY SIZE

Statewide Payment Standards (2023-10-01 onward)

Family Size	2023-10-01	2025-03-01
1	$489	$525
2	$661	$709
3	$833	$893
4	$1,044	$1,077
5	$1,177	$1,260
6	$1,349	$1,444
7	$1,520	$1,629
8	$1,693	$1,813

Source: CGS § 17b-104(c), CT TANF State Plan 2024-2026, p.53, DSS Program Standards Chart (eff. 01/01/2026)

Regional Payment Standards — Post-COLA (Effective 2014-07-01 to 2022-06-30)

Family Size	Region A	Region B	Region C
1	$443	$366	$366
2	$563	$487	$487
3	$698	$597	$589
4	$815	$701	$684
5	$919	$803	$779
6	$1,028	$908	$885
7	$1,143	$1,026	$994
8	$1,257	$1,134	$1,100

Source: SSA POMS SI BOS00830.403 (labeled "Effective July 1, 2014")

Regional Payment Standards — Original AFDC-Inherited (Effective 1997-01-01 to 2014-06-30)

Family Size	Region A	Region B	Region C
1	$402	$333	$333
2	$513	$443	$443
3	$636	$543	$536
4	$741	$639	$622
5	$835	$731	$708
6	$935	$827	$805
7	$1,040	$933	$904
8	$1,143	$1,031	$1,001

Source: SSA POMS SI BOS00830.403 (Wayback Machine, 2011) (labeled "Effective July 1, 1995")

Amounts were frozen from 1995 through 2007, then received CPI adjustments in FY2008, FY2009, FY2014, and FY2015. The regional system was abolished by PA 22-118 § 236 effective July 1, 2022.

Need Standard Rate: 55% of FPL (from 2022-07-01) — CGS § 17b-104(a)

---

4. BENEFIT CALCULATION

Formula:

Benefit = Adjusted Payment Standard − Countable Unearned Income

Housing Subsidy — CGS § 17b-104(d):

Families receiving housing assistance get 92% of the payment standard:

Adjusted Standard = Payment Standard × 0.92   (if receiving housing assistance)
Adjusted Standard = Payment Standard           (otherwise)

High-Earnings Reduction — CGS § 17b-112(d), effective 2024-01-01:

When gross earned income ≥ 171% of FPL, benefit is reduced by 20%:

Reduced Benefit = Benefit × 0.80

Source: CT TANF State Plan 2024-2026, p.10

---

Changes in this PR

Parameters:

• Added regional payment standards (Region A/B/C) with correct effective dates:
  • 1997-01-01: Original AFDC-inherited amounts (from archived POMS snapshot)
  • 2014-07-01: Post-COLA amounts (from current POMS, labeled "Effective July 1, 2014")
• Added regional_in_effect boolean guard (true 1997-01-01, false 2022-07-01)
• Added 2025-03-01 payment standard update for all family sizes
• Added housing subsidy rate (92%) from 1995-07-01
• Added high-earnings provision (171% FPL threshold, 20% reduction) from 2024-01-01
• Backdated child support deduction, earned income deduction, max unit size to 2017-10-01
• Backdated resource limit to $3,000 (2017-10-01), increased to $6,000 (2023-10-01)
• Added specific CGS subsections: § 17b-112(c) for earned income deduction, § 17b-112(d) for all others
• Added descriptive suffixes to all State Plan page 10 references
• Added CT TANF State Plan 2021-2023 reference (#page=57) for regional payment tables
• Added 2025 DSS Standards Chart reference for payment amounts
• Added Wayback Machine POMS reference for 1995 regional amounts

Variables:

• Added ct_tfa_region enum (Region A/B/C) with town-to-region note
• Cleaned up hardcoded numbers from ct_tfa.py comments
• Fixed description grammar in income_limit_rate and reduction_rate

Tests:

• Added regional payment standard tests for all 3 regions (2015, 2020, 2021 periods)
• Added effective date transition tests (post-2014 amounts)
• Added integration tests for regional periods with unearned income
• Added housing subsidy tests, high-earnings reduction tests
• Added historical resource limit tests ($3,000 vs $6,000)

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 100.00%. Comparing base (55a0045) to head (0773e8d).
⚠️ Report is 2 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@             Coverage Diff             @@
##             main     #7483      +/-   ##
===========================================
+ Coverage   97.82%   100.00%   +2.17%     
===========================================
  Files           3         3              
  Lines          92        57      -35     
  Branches        2         2              
===========================================
- Hits           90        57      -33     
+ Misses          1         0       -1     
+ Partials        1         0       -1     

Flag	Coverage Δ
unittests	100.00% <100.00%> (+2.17%)	⬆️

Flags with carried forward coverage won't be shown. Click here to find out more.

☔ View full report in Codecov by Sentry.
📢 Have feedback on the report? Share it here.

🚀 New features to boost your workflow:

• ❄️ Test Analytics: Detect flaky tests, report on failures, and find test suite problems.